History

Let me take you back for a minute.

Beat Studies started as a production partnership in 2003 when I (BJ Alden) teamed up with Wallace Hardin III to “study” the works and process of music pioneers like DJ Shadow, J Dilla and RJD2. Armed with a pair of techniques and an MPC 2000XL, we began producing and releasing mixtape CDs. Since then, dozens of our collaborators who we respectfully refer to as “Scholars of Distinction” have come together on projects such as 16 Bars of Gold, Don’t Mean A Thing, and most recently Abstract Architect.

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About BJ Alden

Music journalist, composer and video producer. After five years between Los Angeles and Marquette, Michigan, BJ has found himself back in Atlanta, in the same studio, with the same collaborator from a decade earlier. This time older and wiser—and with better gear.